VZCZCXRO8940
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #0719/01 0840525
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 250525Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7907
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000719 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM AF PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: AFGHAN ELECTION COMMISSION AND WOMEN'S NGOS 
DISCUSS INCREASED COOPERATION 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. During a March 16 Embassy-hosted tea, a 
dozen women's NGO leaders and Independent Election Commission 
(IEC) and Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan 
(FEFA) officials strategized how the IEC, together with 
national and international partners, could encourage women's 
participation in the electoral process.  IEC External 
Relations Director M. Farid Afghanzai gave a well-received 
and comprehensive overview of the IEC's recent gender 
outreach efforts and plans for the future.  The women's 
questions spilt evenly between issues related to election 
security and transparency and concerns specific to women 
voters.  The Afghan Women's Network (AWN), an NGO 
representing more than 60 women's advocacy NGOs, proposed to 
plan and host a follow up meeting. 
 
IEC Efforts 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Afghanzai outlined the IEC's plans to involve women 
in every aspect of election preparations: Two of the seven 
IEC Commissioners are women, and the IEC has the largest 
gender unit of any Afghan government institution, he noted. 
Additionally, the IEC will hire an equal number of men and 
women as temporary election staffers, including those 
staffing the IEC's public outreach department and each 
polling place. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Summarizing the IEC's efforts to promote women's 
voter registration, Afghanzai said the IEC: 
 
--Held three large conferences in each province where local 
mullahs assured villagers that women voting was consistent 
with the tenets of Islam. 
--Convinced the Ministry of Hajj to send a letter or 
representative to every mosque asking the local religious 
leadership to speak out in favor of women's voter 
registration. 
--Placed billboards encouraging women in cities and rural 
areas to vote with messages targeted to each population. 
--Accommodated women not wishing to be photographed by using 
fingerprints as identification and printing voter 
registration cards without photos. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Moving toward the August 20 election, the IEC is 
organizing a series of meetings with civil society leadership 
to discuss how civil society can best support free, fair, and 
transparent elections.  As part of this consultation process, 
the IEC will solicit proposals and award grants to civil 
society organizations for civic education and election 
monitoring projects. 
 
Women's Comments 
---------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) "We need to stand up and raise our sisters' 
awareness of the importance of voting," said Afghan Women's 
Council (AWC) Director Fatana Gailani.  Gailani appreciated 
the IEC's efforts, but emphasized that civil society 
organizations, as representatives of the Afghan people, 
should also assume responsibility for a successful election. 
Her organization is already heavily involved in civic 
education efforts, targeting women in Nangarhar, Parwan, and 
Kandahar provinces, as well as in Kabul.  AWC staff lead 
civic education seminars and individual participants in these 
seminars then accept responsibility for sharing their new 
information with five other women. 
 
¶6. (SBU) All Afghan Women's Council (AAWC) Director Suraya 
Perlika asked how the IEC would prevent election fraud. 
Preventing every instance of fraud would be difficult, 
Afghanzai admitted.  He was confident, however, that the IEC 
- together with civil society - could ensure that the 
election would be credible and accepted by the Afghan people. 
 Afghanzai pointed out that civil society could play a 
crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of the election by 
providing well-trained, honest election monitors. 
 
Next Step 
---------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) AWN plans to organize and host a follow-up meeting 
in late March or early April to develop a specific plan of 
action to combat the various barriers to women's full 
participation in the electoral process. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Afghanzai's thorough and well-prepared presentation 
did a lot to ease the NGO representatives' concerns about the 
IEC's commitment to women.  Even AAWC's Suraya Perlika who 
 
KABUL 00000719  002 OF 002 
 
 
stridently criticized the organization of the 2004 and 2005 
elections, told poloff she was impressed by Afghanzai, and 
that the IEC was doing a good job this year.  Post will 
continue to foment the relationship between the IEC and NGOs 
and support civil society engagement in the electoral 
process. 
WOOD